I can't help but believe that, despite the negative slant that was implied in this article toward Josh's choice of integrity, that he would not be better off physically if he chose to take blood. It is wonderful to know that there is non blood treatment for sickle cell anemia.
Is there any further information on this treatment?
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http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...14evpaint.html

'You don't need fingers to be a great artist'


14-year-old Mesa native has sickle cell

Josh Kelley
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 14, 2004 12:00 AM


MESA -What 14-year-old Josh Mahoney lacks in fingers, he makes up for with heart and a confident ambition.

"I'm going to prove to the world that you don't need fingers to be a great artist," said Mahoney, a Mesa native who has the genetically inherited disease sickle cell anemia.

In November Mahoney lost all of his toes and fingers, except for his thumbs, after a "painful crisis." Also known as a vaso-occlusive crisis, it occurs in people with severe sickle cell anemia when their misshapen red blood cells begin attaching to the walls of blood vessels, said Dr. Michael Recht, Mahoney's doctor.

But Mahoney's case is unique.

"I have never had any patient that had an episode like Josh had," said Recht, a pediatric hematologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

"It was severe enough that it actually inhibited blood flow to his fingers and to his toes," Recht said. "Luckily his thumbs were spared."

For Mahoney, who will be an eighth-grader at Eduprize school in Gilbert this fall, those thumbs and the nubs of his fingers are all he has left to pursue his passion for art.

"I think if I took my drawing techniques to a business, I would be a cartoonist," said Mahoney, who now grips a pencil between his thumb and the nub that was once his index finger.

During a special event Friday at the hospital's "One Darn Cool School," John Bianchi, a prolific children's book illustrator from Tucson, interacted with a group of sick children by demonstrating his talent and helping the children with their sketching skills.

For Mahoney, the experience was momentous, and he bear-hugged Bianchi at the end.

"You're a great artist," said Mahoney, bulging with admiration. "It would be awesome if you made a cartoon series."

Bianchi replied, "Well, I'm leaving that up to you."

Mahoney's case is unusual, but his religious beliefs make things more complex.

Because he's a Jehovah's Witness, Mahoney and his parents refuse blood transfusions, which makes Mahoney's condition more severe.

That's a reality that Mahoney and his mother, Virginia Mahoney, face every day.

"I tell him if this doesn't kill him, he'll be stronger," she said.

Sickle cell anemia causes hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen, to malfunction. This causes red blood cells to die much too quickly. The surviving red blood cells, instead of being round, look "like a crescent-shaped moon" under a microscope, Recht said.

Usually blood transfusions with healthy red blood cells are key to treatment, but Mahoney's case requires alternatives.

Recht is treating Mahoney with a hormone called erythropoietinand Hydroxyurea, which Recht described as "old fashion chemotherapy." It causes 25 percent to 30 percent of the sickle-shaped red blood cells to be replaced by fetal red blood cells.